Development of a criticality evaluation method considering the particulate behavior of nuclear fuel

Sakai, Mikio; Yamamoto, Toshihiro; Murazaki, Minoru; Miyoshi, Yoshinori

In the conventional criticality evaluation of the nuclear powder system, the effects of particulate behavior have not been considered. In other words, it is difficult to reflect the particle behavior into the conventional criticality evaluation. We have developed a novel criticality evaluation code to resolve this issue. The criticality evaluation code, coupling a Discrete Element Method simulation code with a continuous-energy Monte Carlo transport code, makes it possible to study the effect of the particulate behavior on a criticality evaluation. The criticality evaluation code has been applied to the powder system of the MOX fuel powder agitation process. The criticality evaluations have been performed under mixing the MOX fuel powder in a stirred vessel to investigate the effects of the powder boundary deformation and particulate mixture conditions on the criticality evaluation. The evaluation results revealed that the powder uniformity mixture condition and the boundary deformation could make the neutron effective multiplication factor decrease.